System and Method for Communicating With Inmates in a Privileged Communication

ABSTRACT

A system and method for with an inmate in a privileged communication are disclosed. a communication system includes a portal subsystem that determines whether a communication should be monitored, or not, based on received information, including access information, from a first communication device. Based on the determination, the communication system bypasses a monitoring subsystem and stores and/or transmits the communication to a second communication device by way of a non-monitoring subsystem.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/822,832 filed on Nov. 27, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/620,322 filed on Jun. 12, 2017, which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/354,417 filed onNov. 17, 2016, all of which are incorporated by reference herein intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND Field

The disclosure relates to a communication system that facilitates accessto a secure portal for privileged communications to/from inmates in acorrectional facility.

Background

Correctional facilities provide inmates with the ability to communicatewith others by way of phone, video communication, email, or text. Ingeneral, inmates have a diminished right to privacy such that thesecommunications are monitored. However, certain communications, includingthose with investigators, attorneys, and doctors, should not bemonitored because the communications are either covered under privacyrights or, if made public, could endanger inmates or others.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosureand, together with the description, further serve to explain theprinciples of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in thepertinent art to make and use the embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a communication system, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication center, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an application server, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for setting up anaccount, according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate a flowchart diagram of a method for generating acommunication, according to exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer system, according to exemplary embodimentsof the present disclosure.

The present disclosure will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left mostdigit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which thereference number first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings toillustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure.References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplaryembodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anexemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in therelevant art(s) to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic inconnection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrativepurposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments arepossible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the DetailedDescription is not meant to limit the invention. Rather, the scope ofthe invention is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuits), firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, whichmay be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readablemedium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting informationin a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example,a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media;flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms ofpropagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.), and others. Further, firmware, software, routines,instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions.However, it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely forconvenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices,processors, controllers, or other devices executing the firmware,software, routines, instructions, etc. Further, any of theimplementation variations may be carried out by a general purposecomputer, as described below.

For purposes of this discussion, any reference to the term “module”shall be understood to include at least one of software, firmware, andhardware (such as one or more circuit, microchip, or device, or anycombination thereof), and any combination thereof. In addition, it willbe understood that each module may include one, or more than one,component within an actual device, and each component that forms a partof the described module may function either cooperatively orindependently of any other component forming a part of the module.Conversely, multiple modules described herein may represent a singlecomponent within an actual device. Further, components within a modulemay be in a single device or distributed among multiple devices in awired or wireless manner.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will sofully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, byapplying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modifyand/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments,without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modificationsare intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents ofthe exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s) in light of theteachings herein.

Overview

In general, communications between an inmate and others are recorded andmonitored because inmates have limited privacy rights. Certaincommunications, however, are covered under privacy rights for everyone,including inmates. For example, communications with attorneys, doctors,investigators, counselors, and other non-inmate professionals arecovered under privacy rights. For these types of communications,correctional facilities are not allowed to monitor the communications.Additionally, some communications, including those with an investigatorat times when the inmate is acting as an informant, should not bemonitored due to safety reasons for inmates and others.

Over the years, communication systems for correctional facilities haveevolved from merely facilitating phone calls to facilitatingcommunications by way of audio, video, email, or texting technologies.As more options for communications have increased, so has the complexityin the technologies managing and controlling the communications.However, conventional communication systems have mostly remained thesame in the area of determining whether a communication is privileged.To do this, conventional systems merely flag a phone number as beingauthorized to be involved in a privileged communication (i.e., anon-monitored communication). Thus, conventional systems use the samecommunication system for both privileged and non-privilegedcommunications. Use of a single communication system for both privilegedand non-privileged communications has led to some privilegedcommunications having been recorded, monitored, and/or disclosed to thepublic. Examples of this issue include attorney-client conversations,medical records, and informant hotline communications being disclosed tothe public. Disclosure of these communications not only violate inmateprivacy rights but can lead to inmates being in danger based on thecommunication, especially in the case of informant hotlinecommunications. Additionally, disclosure of the communications may leadto lengthy and costly law suits against companies that provide thecommunication systems, and correctional facilities and jurisdictionsthat use the communication systems.

In light of the above, the present disclosure provides a communicationsystem and method for communicating with an inmate in a privilegedcommunication. The communication system includes a portal subsystem thatdetermines whether a communication should be monitored, or not, based onreceived information, including access information, from a firstcommunication device. By receiving the information, the communicationsystem bypasses a monitoring subsystem and stores or transmits thecommunication to a second communication device by way of anon-monitoring subsystem.

Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a communication system 100,according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Thecommunication system 100 includes a communication center 110 configuredto receive and transmit communications between an inmate communicationdevice 120 and an outsider communication device 130. In this disclosure,a communication refers to both real time and non-real timecommunications. The communication is for example, an audiocommunication, a video communication, an email, or a text between aninmate using the inmate communication device 120 and an outsider usingthe outsider communication device 130.

The inmate communication device 120 includes any or all devices such aswired communication devices 122, which include audio communicationdevices 123 a and video communications devices 123 b, wirelesscommunication device 125, and/or a control station 126. Thecommunication center 120 also connects to a wireless access point 125(e.g., a router), which may provide connectivity to the wireless devices124. The inmate communication devices 120, such as the videocommunications devices 123 b, the wireless communication device 125,and/or the control station 126, are configured to include a camera and ascreen for generating and viewing videos or images. The inmatecommunication device 120 connects to the communication center 110 via anetwork 101. The network 101 includes a Local-Area Network (LAN), aWide-Area Network (WAN), or the Internet, depending on the relativelocations of the communication center 110 and the inmate communicationdevice 120. For example, the communication center 110 may be located ata correctional facility where the inmate communication device 120 islocated and therefore a LAN is used. In another example, thecommunication center 110 is located at a different location than thecorrectional facility and therefore the network 101 is a WAN or theInternet.

The outsider communication device 130 includes any and all devices suchas a work station 132, a basic telephone 134, and/or a wirelesscommunication device 136. The outsider communication device 130 isconfigured to include one or more of a microphone and speaker forgenerating and receiving audio, a camera and a video screen forgenerating and viewing video, and/or a texting application such as anemail client or a texting app. The outsider communication device 130connects to the communication center 110 via network 103, which mayinclude any or all of a WAN, the Internet, and/or a Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN). In an embodiment, WebRTC may be utilized inplace of a session initiation protocol (SIP) over a WAN or the Internet,each of which provides a dedicated, privileged link between the inmatecommunication device 120 and the outsider communication device 130. TheWAN is used to provide access to control stations or clients such, asthe work station 132, that are located within the WAN. The Internet isutilized to provide access to communication devices such as remotelydistributed control stations (e.g., the work station 132). The PSTN canbe used to provide connectivity to the basic telephone 134 and/or thewireless communication device 136 and other communication devices (notshown) over traditional data networks.

The communication system 100 also includes a monitoring center 140configured to receive communications and data from the communicationcenter 110. The monitoring center 140 receives the communications anddata so as to facilitate the monitoring of the communications bothautomatically and manually by a reviewer. The monitoring center 140connects to the communication center 110 via a network 105. The network105 includes a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet, depending on the relativelocations of the communication center 110 and the monitoring center 140.

Communication Center

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication center 200,according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Thecommunication center 200 may represent an exemplary embodiment of thecommunication center 110 of FIG. 1. The communication center 200includes an identity server 202, a portal server 204, a monitoringcommunication server 206, a non-monitoring communication server 208, adatabase server 210, a web server 212, an application server 214, anddata storage 220.

Each of the servers 202-212 can be constructed as individual physicalhardware devices, or as virtual servers. The number of physical hardwaremachines can be scaled to match the number of simultaneous userconnections desired to be supported in the communication system 100.

The identity server 202 consists of any number of servers, and isconfigured to collect and store identity data of inmates and outsidersauthorized to access the communication system 100. Identity dataincludes at least one of username and password data, challengequestions, challenge answers, voice data, fingerprint data, retinaldata, facial recognition data (2D or 3D), device data such as make andmodel of a communication device, and/or location data. The challengequestion form of identity data may be a series of challenge questions,or a single challenge question such as the last four digits of aninmate's social security number, mother's maiden name, and the like. Theidentity server 202 is further configured to facilitate a securecommunication between parties receiving/transmitting a communication byperforming identity verifications to authenticate identities ofpurported parties. The identity verification includes logonverifications, such as username and password verifications, biometricverifications, such as voice recognition, challenge questions, challengeanswers, fingerprint recognition, retinal recognition, facialrecognition (2D or 3D), device verification, and/or locationverification. The identity server 202 performs an identity verificationby receiving identity information such as one or more of a username andpassword, a response to a challenge question(s), a voice sample, afingerprint sample, a retinal sample, a facial image (2D or 3D), deviceinformation such as a make and model of the communication device, and/ora location of the communication device, from a communication device(either 120 or 130) used by a purported party and comparing the identityinformation of the purported party with stored identity data.

The portal server 204 consists of any number of servers, and isconfigured to determine whether a communication should be routed throughthe monitoring server 206 or the non-monitoring server 208. The portalserver 204 receives access information from a communication device(either 120 or 130) to determine whether to monitor the communication.The access information includes an email address, a phone number, anaudible request, a predetermined number, a personal identificationnumber (PIN), and/or a selection from an interface, to provide someexamples. Received access information is compared against access data,as explained below. In an embodiment, the access information is used bythe portal server 204 to determine the initiating party and/or thereceiving party of the communication.

The portal server 204 is also configured to collect and store portaldata. The portal data includes access data that indicates whether a usera communication is authorized to be routed to the non-monitoring server208. For example, when access information is received from acommunication device 120 or 130, the portal server 204 compares theaccess information to the portal data to determine whether acommunication is authorized to be routed by way of the non-monitoredcommunication server 208. Examples of access data may include an emailaddress, a phone number, an audible command, a predetermined number, aPIN, and/or an interface button for selection that are associated withan initiating party and/or a receiving party. Portal data also includesaccount data indicating which users have an account and with whom theusers may communicate with through the non-monitored communicationserver 208.

In an embodiment, the portal server 204 may require a multi-step accessprocess to determine whether a user is authorized to have a privileged(i.e., non-monitored) communication with a receiving party of theprivileged communication. For example, the portal server 204 can receivefirst access information and prompt the user for second accessinformation. In detail, after the portal server 204 receives firstaccess information (e.g., a phone number or an email address) the portaldetermines whether the first access information is associated with aperson authorized for privileged communications (e.g., a lawyer, doctor,etc.). If additional information is needed, the portal server 204 canthen request for second access information such as a PIN, a voiceprompt, a second phone number, or a selection on an interface. Thesecond access information is used to confirm that the user wants to havea privileged communication, to determine that the user is authorized tohave a privileged communication with the receiving party, and/or todetermine an identity of the receiving party. In an embodiment, thefirst or second access information may be based on identity informationreceived through an identity verification.

In an embodiment, the portal server 204 is configured to transmit, orinstruct the application server 212 or another server to transmit, anaudible, visual, or text notification to a user that a communicationwill be routed by way of the monitoring communication server 206 ornon-monitoring communication server 208. For non-real timecommunications such as texts or emails, the confirmation may be pop-upwindow on an interface, or a reply text or email that indicates which ofthe communication servers 206 or 208 will route the communication. Thenotification can include information for the user to end or delete thecommunication if indicated that an undesired communication server willroute the communication. For example, the portal server 204 can send anotification to a user, by way of, for example, a text, indicating thatthat the user's message, such as a text, will be routed through themonitored communication server 206 and can prompt the user to selectwhether the user wants to in fact have the communication routed by wayof the monitored communication server 206.

The monitored communication server 206 consists of any number ofservers, and is configured to control the routing of communications toan end destination and to the monitoring center 140. In doing so, themonitored communication server 206 performs switching required toelectrically connect to a party, when receiving communications, connectto another party, when transmitting communications, and connect to themonitoring center 140. Further, the monitored communication server 206is configured to log communication information, including time ofcommunication and parties involved in communication, and store the logsand communications as files on an internal storage or an externalstorage, as will be explained in more detail below. The files stored bythe monitored communication server 206 can be stored indefinitely foruse by the monitoring center 140 in monitoring and investigation of aninmate.

The non-monitored communication server 208 consists of any number ofservers, and is configured to control the routing of communications toan end destination but bypasses the monitoring center 140. In doing so,the non-monitored communication server 208 performs switching requiredto electrically connect to a party, when receiving communications, andconnect to another party, when transmitting communications. Thenon-monitored communication server 208 is configured to store non-realtime communications, but not real time communications, as files on aninternal storage or an external storage, as will be explained in moredetail below. In comparison with the monitored communication server 206,the non-monitored communication server 208 only temporarily stores thenon-real time communications until a predetermined time and/orpredetermined event occurs, as described below. Further, communicationinformation is not logged or recorded by the non-monitored communicationserver 208.

In an embodiment, the monitored communication server 206 and thenon-monitored communication server 208 are each configured to transmit asecond audible, visual, or text notification to a communication deviceto indicate that a communication is currently being routed by way ofrespective communication server 206 or 208. This second notificationprovides confirmation to the user that a communication is in fact beingtransmitted by way of a monitored or non-monitored communication path.

By completely separating and isolating the monitored communicationserver 206 and the non-monitored communication server 208 from eachother, there is no error or chance of recording a privilegedcommunication as in conventional monitoring systems.

Because there may be a variety of different communication standardsemployed by different audio, video, image, and text devices that wish toparticipate in communications, in an embodiment, both the monitoredcommunication server 206 and the non-monitored communication server 208are also configured to perform format conversion of non-real timecommunications. Conversion of incoming and outgoing communications areperformed, as needed, to be compatible with the inmate communicationdevice 120, the outsider communication device 130, or the monitoringcenter 140 (in the case of the monitored communication server 206). Forexample, the non-monitored communication server can convert an audiocommunication received from the audio communication device 123 a suchthat an outsider can listen to the audio communication by way of one ormore of the work station 132, the basic telephone 134, or the wirelesscommunication device 136.

Further, because the monitored communication server 206 and thenon-monitored communication server 208 receive and transmitcommunications by way of a network, in an exemplary embodiment, themonitored communication server 206 and the non-monitored communicationserver 208 are configured to decrypt received communications and encrypttransmitting communications, for security purposes.

The database server 210 consists of any number of servers, and isconfigured to store and organize data in a relational database. Thedatabase server 210 is configured to run a database management system,such as MYSQL™, to provide an example. The databases server 210organizes the data such that respective identity data, portal data, andPINs are indexed and linked to allow communications to be routed by wayof the monitored communication server 206 or the non-monitoredcommunication server 208.

The web server 212 consists of any number of servers, and is configuredto run web server software such as Apache and/or Microsoft InternetInformation Server and/or an interactive voice response (IVR) serversoftware. The primary function of the web server 212 is to routerequests and other communications from inmate communication device 120or the outsider communication device 130 to an appropriate destinationwithin the communication system 100. In an embodiment, the web server212 also serve as a maintenance point into the communication center 110,by which servicing, configuring, and updating can be performed. In anembodiment, the web server 212 is connected to both the public Internetand the internal network of the facility. In an embodiment, the webserver 212 can provide managing services for generating communications,receiving instructions from a party to send or receive communications,and coordinating the transmission of communications. For example, theweb server 212 can facilitate a party in generating a non-real timecommunication when the party uses a front-end application having a userinterface.

The data storage 220 provides access to a wide variety of data such asidentity data of parties involved in the transmitting and receiving ofcommunications, identity data, portal data, contact data, account data,and/or database data. In general, the data storage 220 stores any datastored by the identity server 202, the portal server 204, the monitoredcommunication server 206, the database server 210, the web server 212,and the application server 214. However, in order to retain theconfidentiality of a privileged communication, the data storage 220completely isolates non-monitored communications from monitoredcommunications, or the non-monitored communications are stored by othermeans.

Because the data stored on the data storage 220 may consume asignificant amounts of storage space, the data storage 220 may include aNetwork Attached Storage (NAS) device, which is configured as a massstorage device. In order to reduce the required size of the data storage220, the data storage 220 preferably includes a backup routine totransfer data to permanent storage devices, such as archival permanentstorage or optical disks, after a predetermined time has elapsed sincethe initial recording of that data.

FIG. 3 illustrates an application server 300, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure. The application server 300 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the application server 214 depictedin FIG. 2. The application server 300 consists of any number of servers,and functions as the primary logic processing center in thecommunication system 100. The application server 300 is configured tomanage and facilitate communication between the an identity server 202,a portal server 204, a monitored communication server 206, anon-monitored communication server 208, a database server 210, a webserver 212, and the data storage 220.

The application server 300 includes one or more central processing units(CPU) 310 connected via a bus 301 to several other peripherals. Suchperipherals include an input device, such as a keyboard and/or mouse320, a monitor 322 for displaying information, a network interface card324 and/or a modem 326 that provide network connectivity andcommunication.

The application server 300 also includes internal data storage 330. Thisdata storage 330 is non-volatile storage, such as one or more magnetichard disk drives (HDDs) and/or one or more solid state drives (SSDs).The data storage 330 is used to store a variety of important files,documents, or other digital information, such as the operating systemfiles, application files, user data, and/or temporary recording space.

The application server 300 also includes system memory 340. The systemmemory 340 is preferably faster and more efficient than the data storage330, and is configured as random access memory (RAM) in an embodiment.The system memory 340 contains the runtime environment of theapplication server, storing temporary data for any of the operatingsystem 342, java virtual machine 344, java application server 346, andcommunication control logic 348.

System Operation

Operations of communicating with an inmate in a privileged communicationby the communication system 100 will be described with respect to FIGS.4 and 5. Although the physical devices and components that form thesystem have largely already been described, additional details regardingtheir more nuanced operation will be described below with respect toFIGS. 1-3. While FIGS. 4 and 5 contain methods of operation of thecommunication system 100, the operations are not limited to the orderdescribed below, and various operations can be performed in a differentorder. Further, two or more operations of each method can be performedsimultaneously with each other.

The communication system 100 provides communications between a varietyof different devices. For starters, regardless of the communicationtype, all communications to/from an inmate communication device aretransported by way of the communication center 110. In the case oftraditional phones, because they are not connected directly to eachother, the communication center 110 is configured to provide line powerand logical switching services.

A user interface such as a web site, the IVR, or another interface ismanaged by, or on behalf of, a correctional facility. The interfaceprovides an interactive platform for users wanting to generate,transmit, and receive non-real time communications from/to thecorrectional facility. Accordingly, the interface's backend links to orcommunicates with the application server 214 via the web server 212.

In the following operations, examples of an interface will be explained.As will be understood by those skilled in the arts, embodiments of theinterface may be a graphical interface or an IVR. In the case of an IVR,the interface would limit some of the operations described below to onlyaudio communications.

Account Setup Operation

A user, either an inmate or an outsider, wishing to initiate or transmita privileged communication must first register and set up an accountwith the communication center 100. The registry process requires theuser to submit identity data, as previously described, to thecommunication system 100 in order to verify the user's identity to ahigh degree of likelihood. Registration can be either in-person or bycommunication device (e.g., 120 or 130), depending on correctionfacility rules. This is particularly important for security purposes, toensure that the communication center 100 can properly vet an inmate andoutsiders wishing to use the communication system 100 and verify thatoutsiders are people with whom an inmate has right to participate within a privileged communication.

Once identity data has been submitted and verified, a user can setup anaccount. An account setup operation of a party using the communicationcenter 100 will be described with respect to FIG. 4, which illustrates aflowchart diagram of a method 400 for setting up an account to use thecommunication center 100, according to exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

As shown by FIG. 4, an account setup process starts when a user attemptsto setup an account through the communication system 100 (402). Anattempt to setup an account may occur during registration or when theuser first attempts to initiate a privileged communication through thecommunication system 100, such as the user attempting to access thecommunication system 100 for the first time.

Next, the user's account is automatically created (404). Creation of theuser's account can include the user being assigned a PIN, a mailbox forreceiving a non-real time communication, and/or the user selectingsettings and preferences for receiving or transmitting a communication.The communication system 100, particularly the database server 210,assigns the user a unique account number used to index and link dataassociated with the user. The PIN is stored by the databases server 210and used by the communication system 100 to quickly route acommunication to the user. The mailbox is stored on the non-monitoredserver 208 and used to temporarily store non-real time communications.Next, an account setup process determines whether the user is an inmate(406). This determination is based on an identification verificationprocedure, which is explained in further detail below. If the user is aninmate, an investigator is assigned to the inmate (408). In this case,an investigator is someone assigned by the correctional facility orjurisdiction to receive, from an inmate, confidential informationrelated to other inmates, officers, or crimes. The communication system110 automatically assigns the investigator to the inmate. However, in anembodiment, the communication system 110 receives input from anadministrator before assigning the investigator. If the user is not aninmate, or after the assignment of the investigator to an inmate,privileged contacts are added and assigned to the user (410). To add andassign privileged contacts, the user selects from a list of contactsthat are already registered with the communication system 100.Additionally or alternatively, in an embodiment, the application server214 is configured to retrieve contact data from the data storage 220 andextract information on contacts that are associated with the user. Thecontact data may include information that the user has previouslysubmitted to the communication system 100, such as known doctors,attorneys, counselors, or non-inmate professionals authorized toregister and communicate with the inmate. Non-inmate professionals mayneed jurisdictional approval in order to register with the system. Basedon the extracted information, the communication center 110 thendetermines which contacts are already registered to use thecommunication system 100, and populates at least some of the privilegedcontacts for the user. The database server 210 then links the privilegedcontacts with the user's account. Next, the account setup process ends(450).

Communication Operation

An operation of communicating in a privileged communication by a partyusing the communication system 100 will be described with respect toFIGS. 5A-5B, which illustrate a flowchart diagram of a method 500 forcommunicating in a privileged manner using the communication system 100,according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Once registered, an operation of participating in a privilegedcommunication starts when a user attempts to initiate a privilegedcommunication through the communication system 100 (502). An attempt toinitiate the privileged communication includes a user calling into orlogging onto a website used by the communication system 100. An attemptto logon to the website occurs when the user enters a username andpassword at a website.

Once the communication center 110 recognizes that an attempt hasoccurred, the communication center 110 verifies access to thecommunication system 100 (504). This is done by verifying accessinformation used to attempt to initiate the communication. The accessinformation can include the phone number or the email address used bythe user to attempt to initiate the communication. As an example, whileusing a communication device 120, if the user dials a phone numberassociated with an informant hotline, the communication system 100 canuse the informant phone number as the access information to verifywhether the communication should be monitored. The portal server 204receives the access information and compares the received accessinformation to portal data to determine the validity of the receivedaccess information. If the access information is not valid, thecommunication center 110 ends the privileged communication process(550). Otherwise, the privileged communication process transitions toperforming an identity verification procedure to determine theauthenticity of the purported user (506). To perform the identityverification procedure, the identity server 202 requests for identityinformation from a communication device (either 120 or 130) used by apurported user. Once received the identity server 202 compares thereceived identity information with stored identity data. If the receivedidentity information does not match the stored identity data, theidentity verification procedure has failed. As with all identityverification procedures described herein, upon a predetermined number offailed attempts to validate an identity, the purported user will beprohibited from accessing the communication center 110 (at least untilthe purported user can confirm their identity by some other way such asin-person, over the phone, or online confirmation, to unlock the user'saccount). If the communication center 110 is unable to validate anidentity of the purported user, an error report is created (508). Theerror report is used by system administrators of the communicationsystem 100 for troubleshooting whether the communication system 100contains errors or whether the purported user is attempting tocircumvent the identity verification process. After the error report iscreated, the communication center 110 ends the privileged communicationprocess (550).

If the communication center 110 validates the identity of the purporteduser, the communication center 110 determines whether the user isaccessing the communication system 100 for a first time (510). Todetermine whether the user is accessing the communication system 100 forthe first time, the user data is compared against stored account datastored by the database server 210. In particular, the application server214 verifies that the user has already set up an account with thecommunication system 100. If account data for the user has not beencreated, the user setups an account (512), as described by FIG. 4.

If an account has already been created or after the user creates anaccount, the communication center 110 determines whether thecommunication is a real-time communication (514). This is determined bythe application server 214 based on a front-end application used at thecommunication device 120 or 130. For example, if the user is attemptingto call an attorney, or vice versa, the caller may select a real timecommunication from the interface, either graphical interface or by wayof IVR, of the communication device 120 or 130 to make a phone call. Forreal time communications, the communication center 110 performs anaccount verification procedure of the purported receiving user and anidentity verification procedure of the purported receiving user tovalidate the receiving party (516). First, the portal server 204verifies that the receiving party has an account to communicate via thecommunication system 100 by comparing identity data with portal data. Inan embodiment, if the user has not provided sufficient information forthe portal server 204 to determine who the receiving party is, theportal server 204 sends a request for more data to the communicationdevice 120 or 130. The request for more data includes a request for aPIN, an extension number of the receiving party, a voice prompt, and/oran access code. Once the additional information is received from thecommunication device 120 or 130, the portal server 204 then verifiesthat the receiving party has an account with the communication system100. Second, if the receiving party has an account, portal server 204allows the identity server 202 to perform an identity verificationprocedure by obtaining identity information from the purported receivinguser and comparing it to identity data, similar to the previouslydescribed identity verification procedure (see e.g., 506). If thecommunication center 110 is unable to validate an account or an identityof the receiving party, an error report is created (508), as previouslydescribed. After the error report is created, the communication center110 ends the privileged communication process (550). Otherwise, thenon-monitored communication server 208 allows the parties to hold a realtime communication (518). The non-monitored communication server 208facilitates the real time communication until one of the partiesdisconnects to end the privileged communication process (550).

If the communication center 110 determines that the communication is anon-real time communication, such as a text or voicemail, thecommunication center 110 performs an account verification procedure ofthe purported receiving user to validate the receiving party (520). Anaccount verification procedure is performed by the portal server 204 toverify that the receiving party has an account to communicate via thecommunication system 100 by comparing identity data with portal data, aspreviously described above (see e.g., 516). An identity verificationprocess is not needed at this time, as the receiving parties identity isverified at the time of retrieving the communication. If the receivingparty has an account with the communication system 100, the portalserver 204 allows the user to generate a non-real time communication(522). The non-real time communication is created by way of theinterface such as a texting application on the communication device 120or 130 or a voicemail created through the IVR. Once generated, a requestto transmitted from the communication device 120 or 130 to thenon-monitored communication server 208 (524). The request to transmitcan be message from the communication device 120 or 130 indicating thatthe user selected, by way of the interface, to have the generatednon-real time communication transmitted to the receiving party. Fornon-real time communications generated on a texting interface, thenon-monitored communication server 208 requests for and receives thegenerated non-real time communication from the communication device 120or 130 and then temporarily stores the non-real time communication. Fornon-real time communications generated by way of the IVR, the non-realtime communication is automatically stored by the non-monitoredcommunication server 208.

Next, a notification indicating that the generated non-real timecommunication is available for retrieval is generated and transmitted bythe application server 214 to a receiving communication device 120 or130 (526). After the notification has been transmitted, the portalserver 204 starts a timer and monitors the timer to determine whether apredetermined time has occurred since the notification was transmittedor a request to transmit the generated non-real time communication hasbeen received (528). If the predetermined time has occurred before arequest to transmit the generated non-real time communication has beenreceived from the receiving communication device 120 or 130, thegenerated non-real time communication is automatically deleted from thenon-monitored communication server 208 (530), and the communicationcenter 110 ends the privileged communication process (550). For example,the generated non-real time communication may be automatically deletedfrom the non-monitored communication server 208 after a number of dayshave passed since the notification was transmitted to the receivingcommunication device 120 or 130.

If a request to transmit the generated non-real time communication istransmitted by the receiving communication device 120 or 130 to thecommunication center 110 before the predetermined time has occurred, theportal server 204 allows the identity server 202 to request for identityinformation from the receiving communication device 120 or 130 used by apurported receiving party and performs an identity verification process(532), as previously described. If the identity server 202 is unable tovalidate an identity of the purported user, an error report is created(508), and the communication center 110 ends the privilegedcommunication process (550). Otherwise, the non-monitored communicationserver 208 transmits the generated non-real time communication to thereceiving communication device 120 or 130 (534). Next, the generatednon-real time communication is automatically deleted from thenon-monitored communication server 208 (530), and the communicationcenter 110 ends the privileged communication process (550).

Exemplary Computer Implementation

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) thatvarious elements and features of the present disclosure, as describedherein, can be implemented in hardware using analog and/or digitalcircuits, in software, through the execution of computer instructions byone or more general purpose or special-purpose processors, or as acombination of hardware and software.

The following description of a general purpose computer system isprovided for the sake of completeness. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure can be implemented in hardware, or as a combination ofsoftware and hardware. Consequently, embodiments of the disclosure maybe implemented in the environment of a computer system or otherprocessing system. For example, the methods of FIGS. 4 and 5A-5B can beimplemented in the environment of one or more computer systems or otherprocessing systems. An example of such a computer system 600 is shown inFIG. 6. One or more of the modules depicted in the previous figures canbe at least partially implemented on one or more distinct computersystems 600.

Computer system 600 includes one or more processors, such as processor604. Processor 604 can be a special purpose or a general purpose digitalsignal processor. Processor 604 is connected to a communicationinfrastructure 602 (for example, a bus or network). Various softwareimplementations are described in terms of this exemplary computersystem. After reading this description, it will become apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the disclosureusing other computer systems and/or computer architectures.

Computer system 600 also includes a main memory 606, preferably randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 608.Secondary memory 608 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 610and/or a removable storage drive 612, representing a floppy disk drive,a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, or the like. Removablestorage drive 612 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit616 in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit 616 represents afloppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, or the like, which is read byand written to by removable storage drive 612. As will be appreciated bypersons skilled in the relevant art(s), removable storage unit 616includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computersoftware and/or data.

In alternative implementations, secondary memory 608 may include othersimilar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system 600. Such means may include, for example, aremovable storage unit 618 and an interface 614. Examples of such meansmay include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as thatfound in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM,or PROM) and associated socket, a thumb drive and USB port, and otherremovable storage units 618 and interfaces 614 which allow software anddata to be transferred from removable storage unit 618 to computersystem 600.

Computer system 600 may also include a communications interface 620.Communications interface 620 allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system 600 and external devices. Examples ofcommunications interface 620 may include a modem, a network interface(such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot andcard, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface620 are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic,optical, or other signals capable of being received by communicationsinterface 620. These signals are provided to communications interface620 via a communications path 622. Communications path 622 carriessignals and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, aphone line, a cellular phone link, an RF link and other communicationschannels.

As used herein, the terms “computer program medium” and “computerreadable medium” are used to generally refer to tangible storage mediasuch as removable storage units 616 and 618 or a hard disk installed inhard disk drive 610. These computer program products are means forproviding software to computer system 600.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored inmain memory 606 and/or secondary memory 608. Computer programs may alsobe received via communications interface 620. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system 600 to implement the presentdisclosure as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs,when executed, enable processor 604 to implement the processes of thepresent disclosure, such as any of the methods described herein.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system 600. Where the disclosure is implemented using software,the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded intocomputer system 600 using removable storage drive 612, interface 614, orcommunications interface 620.

In another embodiment, features of the disclosure are implementedprimarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and gate arrays.Implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform thefunctions described herein will also be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art(s).

CONCLUSION

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Abstract section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims.The Abstract section may set forth one or more, but not all exemplaryembodiments, and thus, is not intended to limit the disclosure and theappended claims in any way.

The invention has been described above with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) that variouschanges in form and detail can be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the invention should notbe limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a communication subsystemcomprising a monitoring server and a non-monitoring server wherein themonitoring server is physically isolated from the non-monitoring server;and a portal subsystem configured to: receive a first access informationfrom a first user using a first communication device; determine whetherthe first user is authorized to participate in a requestedattorney-client communication, the requested attorney-clientcommunication being covered under legal rights that preclude monitoringby law enforcement; transmit a request for a second access informationto the first communication device in response to determining that thefirst user is authorized to participate in the requested attorney-clientcommunication; receive the second access information from the firstcommunication device; determine an identity of a second user based onthe second access information; determine whether the first user isauthorized to participate in the requested attorney-client communicationwith the second user based on the second access information; and routethe requested attorney-client communication between the firstcommunication device and a second communication device associated withthe second user by way of the non-monitoring server in response todetermining that the first user is authorized to participate in therequested attorney-client communication with the second user.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first user or the second user is a legalprofessional.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first accessinformation includes one or more of a first phone number or a firstemail address.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second accessinformation includes one or more of a personal identification number(PIN), a voice prompt, a second phone number, or a selection on aninterface of the first communication device by the first user.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising an identity subsystem configuredto collect and store identity data for a plurality of users.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein determining the identity of the second userand determining whether the first user is authorized to participate inthe requested attorney-client communication with the second usercomprises: accessing account data for the first user in the portalsubsystem, wherein the account data indicates that the first user isauthorized to participate in the requested attorney-client communicationwith the second user; and performing an identity verification toauthenticate the identity of the second user with the identity datastored in the identity subsystem.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein theportal subsystem is further configured to: transmit a notification tothe first communication device and the second communication device,wherein the notification indicates that the requested attorney-clientcommunication is not being monitored.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe notification comprises at least one of an audible, visual, or textnotification.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the portal subsystem isfurther configured to: route the requested attorney-client communicationbetween the first communication device and the second communicationdevice by way of the monitoring server in response to determining thatthe first user is not authorized to participate in the requestedattorney-client communication with the second user.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the portal subsystem is further configured to: transmita notification to the first communication device and the secondcommunication device, wherein the notification indicates that therequested attorney-client communication is to be monitored; and receive,from the first communication device or the second communication device,an indication by the first user or the second user acknowledging thatthe requested attorney-client communication is to be monitored when thefirst user is not authorized to participate in the requestedattorney-client communication with the second user.
 11. A methodcomprising: receiving a first access information from a first user usinga first communication device; determining whether the first user isauthorized to participate in a requested attorney-client communication;transmitting a request for a second access information to the firstcommunication device in response to determining that the first user isauthorized to participate in the requested attorney-clientcommunication; receiving the second access information from the firstcommunication device; determining an identity of a second user based onthe second access information; determining whether the first user isauthorized to participate in the requested attorney-client communicationwith the second user based on the second access information; in responseto determining that the first user is authorized to participate in therequested attorney-client communication with the second user, routingthe requested attorney-client communication between the firstcommunication device and a second communication device associated withthe second user by way of a non-monitoring server; and in response todetermining that the first user is not authorized to participate in therequested attorney-client communication with the second user, routingthe requested attorney-client communication between the firstcommunication device and the second communication device associated withthe second user by way of a monitoring server, wherein the monitoringserver is physically isolated from the non-monitoring server.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the first access information includes one ormore of a first phone number or a first email address.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the second access information includes one or more ofa personal identification number (PIN), a voice prompt, a second phonenumber, or a selection on an interface of the first communication deviceby the first user.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:collecting identity data for a plurality of users; and storing theidentity data in a database server.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereindetermining the identity of the second user and determining whether thefirst user is authorized to participate in the requested attorney-clientcommunication with the second user comprises: accessing account data forthe first user in the database server, wherein the account dataindicates that the first user is authorized to participate in therequested attorney-client communication with the second user; andperforming an identity verification to authenticate the identity of thesecond user with the identity data stored in the database server. 16.The method of claim 11, further comprising: in response to determiningthat the first user is authorized to participate in the requestedattorney-client communication with the second user, transmitting anotification to the first communication device and the secondcommunication device, wherein the notification indicates that therequested attorney-client communication is not being monitored.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the notification comprises at least one ofan audible, visual, or text notification.
 18. The method of claim 11,further comprising: receiving, from the first communication device orthe second communication device, an indication acknowledging that therequested attorney-client communication is to be monitored when thefirst user is not authorized to participate in the requestedattorney-client communication with the second user.
 19. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising: in response to determining that the firstuser is not authorized to participate in the requested attorney-clientcommunication with the second user, transmitting a notification to thefirst communication device and the second communication device, whereinthe notification indicates that the requested attorney-clientcommunication is being monitored.
 20. The method of claim 19, whereinthe notification comprises at least one of an audible, visual, or textnotification.